Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Firefox is one of the best browsers because of its extra features like add-ons & extensions. Switch Hosts is one such useful add-on on Firefox which is used for editing your system host file. With the help of switch host, you do not need to search where the host file is located on your system. All you need to do is install Switch Hosts add-on on Firefox, and it allows you to manage and switch between multiple host files easily.

Why should you install Switch Hosts to Mozilla Firefox?

By installing SwitchHost, you don't have to edit the host file manually, which is present in /etc/hosts (in Ubuntu system) and for Windows C:WindowsSystem32driversetchosts.

Ex: You don't have to add one extra line, ' 216.239.32.21 m3chennai.com' to the 'hosts' file to switch the host from '127.0.0.1' (localhost).

HOW TO USE SWITCHHOST?

1. Go to the 'Tools' menu of your Firefox browser, and click on the add-ons option, and select 'Get add-ons'.

2.Search for 'Switch Hosts' and install it to Firefox, and restart it.

3.Now, go to the Switch Hosts Menu which can be found in the 'Tools' Menu and click on 'Before you start(click)' option.

4. A message box will appear , which asks you to completely install SwitchHosts, click OK.

5. Another message box now appears, which tells you that your Host file has been backed up in a folder.

6. Now again go to the SwitchHost menu under the ‘Tools’ menu, and select the Host Management option. A menu to manage hosts will appear as shown below.

7. Click on ‘Add’ to add new host to your existing domain. The menu shown below will follow.

8. Now add the name of your domain along with the IP address to which you want to switch your domain to. Click on Add Record and then OK to add the IP to your particular domain.

9. Now, in the Right-Bottom corner of your browser, you’ll notice the SwitchHost menu, from which you can select the IP address to which you want your domain to be switched. On selecting ‘edite-host’ or the name you have provided, the host gets switched to the IP you have provided.

Thus, you don’t have to manually change the host file, by using SwitchHosts.

Hope developers will love to use this wonderful add-on. Do let me know if you have any more similar types of add-ons in your browser.